Skipping Towns
by Turtlegumtaker
Summary: Tino just wanted a ride to the nearest airport. But, like usual, he gets a bit more than he expected.


Two years ago, Tino would be absolutely appalled if someone told him he would be sleeping in the booth of a 24-hour café instead of a house, but this isn't two years ago.

Luckily for Tino, the staff of the café didn't mind his little visit. In fact, they were very kind to him.

One of the members, a tall brunette named Elizabeta, was a natural older sister. She had insisted on giving Tino a free hot chocolate and giving him a blanket from her car trunk to sleep with. Even though Tino had fought and tried his best to refuse the sudden kindness, he fell asleep that night with the taste of cocoa on his tongue and a cocoon made of a thick blanket.

The morning came too soon for the Finn. So even though the morning sun was now filtering through the blinds of the booth's window, Tino refused to get up. Despite Elizabeta's efforts.

"Tino," She whined, "We might need this table for customers! The morning is always busy!" She shook the Finnish man once more, then sighed and opened the blinds fully.

Tino let out a tired whine before covering his face with the brown-grey blanket in hopes of blocking the light now shining straight into his face.

He decided it was time to stop being so stubborn, so he sat up with his back to the window and stretched with a large yawn. Despite not having a mirror, Tino was sure his blond hair was as unruly as it could possibly be.

"There you go. Now, do you want anything for breakfast? I could spare you one more free meal, but after that Roderich wants you to pay." Elizabeta's voice was soft, as if talking to a young child. She really is motherly, Tino thought idly.

"Who's Roderich?" Tino asked sleepily, rubbing his violet-colored eyes.

"My boss, but he's my boyfriend too so I could probably weasel out a few more things if you need anything." Elizabeta confirmed.

Tino hummed to show he understood, and then let his hands fall to his lap. Elizabeta nodded then walked off back into the kitchen after hearing another member of staff call out to her. She must be an assistant manager, Tino guessed, seeing as she seemed to make a lot of the decisions around here.

He sat cross-legged on the seat of the booth and glanced uncertainly around the spacious café.

It was placed near the center of a small town called Greenville, but Greenville was right next to a large highway so there was a lot of traffic through the town. Truckers, vacationers, the like.

The morning was young, the clock Tino could see read out 6:35am, but despite this the café had a few people eating in it. From where Tino was sitting, he could see a young couple, a lone man who looked like a truck driver, and an elderly couple. Tino could hear voices from around the corner, though.

Tino's black bag sat idly on the table, and he shifted through it to find his old cell phone. The flip-phone was Tino's first and so far only phone, so he did his best to take care of it, seeing as he couldn't afford a new one.

He pressed the power button on the side, and waited a few moments for it to start up. Once it showed the Finns screen picture of him and his best friend Eduard, he checked his message box. Unsurprisingly, it showed he had a missed call and two text messages, all from Eduard. It has been a while since they spoke, Tino remembered, and Eduard insisted on contacting each other at least once each week.

Opening his inbox, the texts read out;

_(8:42 PM) Eduard:_

_tino! its been a while since we talked! hows the job hunting?_

_(9:01 PM) Eduard:_

_tino? _

The job hunting was going horrible, Tino thought. The last four jobs he has applied to turned him down almost immediately.

_New message to Eduard:_

_hey eduard! sorry about not replying last night, I forgot to check my phone. job hunting is going pretty okay_

Tino paused in his typing. No use in lying, Eduard would see straight through it.

_New message to Eduard:_

_hey eduard! sorry about not replying last night, I forgot to check my phone. job hunting isn't going very well, but ive got a few more places im going to apply to, so fingers crossed!_

That would have to work, Tino thought. He hit send and set the phone on the table.

Tino stood and folded the blanket into a neat square, slipped his bag onto his back and sluggishly walked to the counter where Elizabeta was filling out an order. Tino slid the blanket over to the Hungarian, and sat on the closest stool.

Elizabeta said nothing, and Tino shifted, feeling awkward in the quiet shop. "Thanks for the blanket," Tino started, attempting to break the tense silence, "I have money to pay for breakfast, I wouldn't want to take anything else free if I can help it." Tino shifted his bag to his lap and pulled out his thin wallet to make sure Elizabeta believed him.

She smiled at him and took the blanket into her arms. "I'll go throw this back in my car," she stated enthusiastically, strolling to the door leading to the parking lot. "Meanwhile, you figure out what you want to eat. Menus are just to your right!" She added over her shoulder, pushing the door open and going out into the morning sun.

Tino turned to his right to find a stack of laminated menus sitting near the edge of the counter. He slipped his bag to the stool next to him for more room and grabbed the menu on the top of the pile.

The café had pretty typical choices for breakfast foods, pancakes, French toast, scrambled eggs, basic breakfast foods. The scrambled eggs were only $6 opposed to $10 for pancakes or French toast, so he decided on the eggs.

He glanced out the window to see Elizabeta slamming her car's trunk shut. Tino's attention was snatched away from the brunette when his phone vibrated against the table, causing the loud sound to go through the whole café. Other people jumped and turned towards the noise while the Finn let out a squeak of surprise and grabbed the phone to hit 'silence'. Tino sheepishly looked to the customers and whispered an apology.

As soon as the other people broke their stare at Tino and turned their backs to him, Tino gave his phone his best glare. He sighed and opened his inbox.

_(6:57AM) Eduard:_

_damn! best of luck on the new ones._

With a small smile, Tino replied quickly and soon they were talking like they hadn't talked for months, not just a week.

Elizabeta entered back to the café, alerting Tino that she was there with a tap on the shoulder.

"Who're you texting?" She asked, glancing to the small phone in Tino's lap.

"Eduard, he's been my friend since elementary school." Tino replied, glancing back to his phone when it vibrated, signaling that Eduard had replied to Tino's last text.

Elizabeta smiled, glad that Tino wasn't all on his own. "Have you decided what you want to eat?" She asked, stepping behind the counter.

Tino closed his phone and looked up to her. "Uh, the scrambled eggs please." He stated somewhat sheepishly.

"Great," Elizabeta smiled, "I'll get that ready for you." She turned on her heel and disappeared into the kitchen. Tino heard her repeat his order and then the cooks confirming.

He smiled and got his money out, a crumpled five dollar bill and a few quarters sat in his hand when Elizabeta appeared back from the kitchen and crossed over to the cash register. Tino handed over his money and went back to his stool to wait.

Tino must have been hungrier than he thought, seeing as his stomach growled loud enough for Eliza to hear it. She laughed and slid a glass of water to the Finn. Tino blushed slightly and chuckled, sipping at the water.

A blue van in the parking lot caught Tino's eye, and for lack of anything better to do, he watched as four men jumped out. There was an insanely tall blonde with glasses who got out of the driver's side, a shorter blond with hair that stood up comically, another blond who kept smacking the one with crazy hair whenever he got too close, and then the shortest of the group looked like a young teen with silvery hair.

A strange group, Tino concluded as he turned back to Elizabeta to start an idle conversation.

* * *

reposted because i decided i didnt like the introduction i had before, so here's the first chapter instead!

this is gonna be a roadtrip/human AU and the main ships are gonna be sufin and dennor!

im hoping i'll maybe get a chapter out every week, but dont hold me to that!

-bec


End file.
